could have been better, could have been worse. sad to say , at no stage yesterday did I feel we would win the game. was Seanie fully fit ?, If not he shouldn't have been starting. again we had the issue of players taking the ball in to contact and being held up/dispossed. the three main culprits for this are Martin Reilly, Dara McVeety and Cian Mackey. don't get me wrong McVeety and Reilly played very good yesterday but they should sometimes just lay the ball off sooner and not as a last resort. McVeety is getting better at breaking tackles especially in a one-on-one situation but when there are 2 or three there then don't go for it. Peter Harte is a master at breaking tackles and showed his class yesterday. I suppose it didn't help that we had little options up front and mgmt must take responsibility for this. I think Keating should have been on earlier. Not sure why the gunner was substituted so early, it seemed a strange decision. I also though Argue was doing well and was taken off too early. Buchannan's black was unfathomable given what went on throughout the games over the weekend. I couldn't see what on earth he did to deserve it. Haven't seen it on TV so maybe there was something I missed. I noticed Corr went down at the end. what is the injury ?. thought Jason Mclaughlin had a wonderful game yesterday.

s goldrick (Cavan) - Posts: 5356 - 25/04/2016 14:37:56    1849208

Very disappointing performance.
Very simply, Tyrone had a few experienced campaigners who steadied the ship and carried them through.
We were too slow getting the ball forward. Givney was on the square with a man on him and a man ten yards out as a sweeper.
I think some of the substitutions were made to give the lads a run because they made no impact on the game.
We were not in contention at midfield. Donnelly and Kavanagh were too cute and too experienced for Corr and Buchanan, though to be fair, the latter is only 22 and in his first season. Mossy hadn't a lot of pace.
We gave away silly fowls and just looked second to every ball. We did score a respectful 15 points but were wide open every time Tyrone attacked.
Watching the second game, we have a long long way to go, but that's for another day !! Armagh will be waiting in the long grass and will be fully prepared to take us down in first round. Tyrone showed how easy it was to negate out game.

StirringIt (Cavan) - Posts: 374 - 25/04/2016 14:38:54    1849210

Tyrone gave our lads a lesson in 'game management' yesterday. Call it cuteness or cynicism, but either way it was the difference between the teams. The pool of footballing talent available to both managers was pretty much equal but there was only one going to be one winner.

Game management was the reason why GMcKiernan did not feature as much as usual, he was denied space but nobody seemed to stand up in his place. It was the reason why McVeety got mugged in possession so many times running down blind alleys. It was the reason why there was almost no football played in the last 7 minutes, that time was spent watching Cathal McCarron wrestling and wondering what happened to Mossy Corr. It was also the reason why young Buchannan ended up on the line, an accumulation of complaints to the ref that eventually yielded a card.

No amount of weights, running up hills or ball work in training will close this gap. An altogether different approach is needed when we most likely run into this team again in the summer. TH needs to pore over the Tyrone games against Donegal, Monaghan and Kerry from last year- there is a definite pattern to see that he needs to prepare his team for.

MadgeKing (Cavan) - Posts: 489 - 25/04/2016 16:26:15    1849320

The black card was a mystery to watching on TV as well. Very harsh on the young lad.

kildare blue (Cavan) - Posts: 572 - 25/04/2016 17:08:27    1849363

Peter Harte ran the show like he always does. But we don't seem worried about the opposition or their tactics . We just seem to go out with no game plan as regard to the oppositions main threat. Mickey Harte had his homework done on McKiernan , Johnston and Givney. Not once did Hyland and co try to counteract that. For example why didn't he take Givney out to midfield to create some space inside? Attacking backs like McLoughlin and Faulkner and even McVitty carried the ball too far inside the 45m line and when wanting to release it found the area too crowded . Martin Reilly delayed to long on the ball and seems to be always looking for that backward pass. I'd be worried at how easy it was for Tyrone to run at us straight up the middle . Shades of Roscommon last year in the qualifiers. All in all it was disappointing especially as we never put Tyrone under any real pressure. They seemed always in control. We seemed very predictable with no variation what so ever in our play. We need more if we are going to contest games in Div one.

Awwwwnow (Cavan) - Posts: 1050 - 25/04/2016 18:13:38    1849396

Argue, CBrady, KBrady should never have been subbed especially gunner, he made one mistake but was playing good stuff otherwise. We seemed to have been trying to run straight through tryone and we had absolutely no width to us whatsoever!! GMcKiernan wasnt as dominant inside as usual so should have been brought out field. The diagonal ball in to the full forward line (but into the space) is the only way to beat the sweepers as it is nearly impossible to defend against especially when having big men to your advantage. Overall I thought we failed tactically and seemed to have gone into the game with no evident game plan.

Cavanlife (Cavan) - Posts: 54 - 25/04/2016 20:07:00    1849456

tyrone didnt seem to come out of second gear for most parts of the game , tiernan mc cann was allowed to run far to long with the day so many times, we got torn to pieces down the middle , we had no CB and tyrone exploited that in the first half ,we need a CB to hold that position and block of ball carriers running through with ease, basic mistakes cost us like poor passing and taking the ball into the tackle simple, cant understand TH arms folded a long the line , try out some new things , gmac giveny argue in the full forward line for ten mins and let the ball in high see what happens, the armagh game is gonna be a different ball game that the league match

paulie (Cavan) - Posts: 44 - 25/04/2016 21:00:13    1849488

From watching it on telly it was apparent that the buck stopped with both the players and the management. A bright first half but Tyrone learned how to play through Cavan which wasn't that difficult but also they learned how to stop Cavan's attack. I felt that Tyrone had another gear or two if they wanted to. Our passing was very poor with silly errors from Goalie, half back and half forwards. Lots of talk about the Black card but who gave the sloppy pass to Liam for that black card? No pressure at all giving that pass and completely inaccurate. Martin Reilly taking three solos and turning back before looking up, giving a hanging pass into Givney that benefits the back more. Conor Moynagh, albeit unluckily giving away frees and then pleading his innocence every time. These are only little faults that can be easily corrected by players and management but they seem to be always there against better opposition. Maybe we were caught in the headlights in the second half, maybe management hadn't a plan B, maybe the players weren't able to adapt, maybe Tyrone were just too good. Tyrone though seemed to get a lot of players back when we had the ball forcing us to do these silly mistakes but after 3 years of defending could we not have shown some kind of defence instead of having Tyrone just slice through us in that second half? Also if players are being marked out of it, move them outfield, let them roam. Tyrone had McCurry injured also. Tyrone are not a top top team. They can mix it with Dublin and Kerry but have to be at their very best on a given day to do that. Its 2010 since they've won Ulster. This game shows us that we clearly have to adapt during a game with a different plan, if plan A is not working and after a game learn from it. If not we could end up like Down this year. Also Armagh will be gunning for us after the league defeat and will be licking their wounds. I'm beginning to sound like Deano I know but hopefully this is coming across as constructive criticism

cavan97 (Cavan) - Posts: 369 - 26/04/2016 09:46:28    1849535

We played odd bits of decent football
Johnson if used right will do what needs to be done , takin him off looked like the old underage manager trick , take off the corner forward when the problem is the very good soloers out the field and man have we good soloers
We have a squad so competition for places for champo will be strong


I would be very critical of half back line they cannot take responsibility for stopping or markin a player, they just constant run into spaces and lie back from the opposition attack , they look like they're workin hard cos there runnin but their runnin doin nothin and in Croker ye can't hide

We need a stronger midfield and as previous poster said 5 forward who are forwards and can play as forwards
We have got so far down the line of everyone runnin up the field to have a go that we have 15 jack of all trades and nearly zero masters of one. We need forwards who are proper forwards, who can take frees, midfielders who can control a game, defenders who can mark, track and tackle a Centrr half who can mark, hold the middle, take the opposition best man out, we had no one able to nullify Peter Harte and boy did he fun the show all day.

I want us so badly to win, we got promoted on a run of 4 wins over poor opposition. We have the talent to do it, Hyland has the ability but I wonder sometimes who bees advisin him????Substitutions were all wrong on Sunday, 4 of them at least didn't look match fit one was totally out of his depth and one introduced far too late to be any use

Enjoy the holidays boys work hard his can get this right , bad day Sundah but better days go come.

shannon414 (Cavan) - Posts: 228 - 26/04/2016 17:27:04    1849830

Why don't you tell who your forwards are Shannon instead of vague comments like we need this and we need that. Killian gunner was booked early, that's why he was off if he'd got a 2nd yellow (very likely) you'd all be complaining he wasn't taken off. Johnston off because he was not fully fit and only touched ball 3/4 times. Tyrone are a well oiled team playing a familiar game plan. We did OK against them but we are not at their level yet.

fredflint (Cavan) - Posts: 1333 - 26/04/2016 18:59:13    1849861

Johnston was taking of because he was hiding in the corner. He had a great league but Tyrone are a couple of steps up from the opposition he was tearing apart. I felt he didn't show for ball hence the lack of options for the lads out to field to hit.

Jim_Shorts (Cavan) - Posts: 92 - 26/04/2016 19:12:47    1849866

I want us so badly to win, we got promoted on a run of 4 wins over poor opposition. We have the talent to do it, Hyland has the ability but I wonder sometimes who bees advisin him????Substitutions were all wrong on Sunday, 4 of them at least didn't look match fit one was totally out of his depth and one introduced far too late to be any use

Enjoy the holidays boys work hard his can get this right , bad day Sundah but better days go come.

shannon414 (Cavan) - Posts:145 - 26/04/2016 17:27:04 1849830

Just to correct you shannon414 we got promoted on winning 5 wins on the trot.
Look they were all pressure games the players did what was asked of them and that was get us promoted, give them a break for christ sake. Look taking off Seannie was not an decision that was made from the side line it was made because he injured his hand and why have him carry on when this happened. I have said it down the years most of you laugh every time I do but before you can start to build a team you must have a spine then you build the branches. No matter if a corner forward has to come out to the 40 to try and get a ball well you know his supply was not happening? a player is only as good as his supply it's that simple. We can question the substitutions but whats the point these are done by the management love them or loath them it's that simple.
We must now prepare for our next match which is Armagh in just under six weeks and go from there. Forget the league it's over it's now championship time.

The Quiet Man (Cavan) - Posts: 4565 - 26/04/2016 21:15:41    1849919

Sean O Rinn - you are spending a lot of time correcting trivial things. Settle yourself!

Shannon - while I agree with some of what you say, we can't just find a better midfield from thin air. The panel is the panel and to be fair, that is all we can work for. Maybe there are some options at club level but I can't see how anyone could come in and make a massive impact. So you are right, we do need better players ALWAYS, but we can only work with what we have.

I think that we can take positives from Sunday and definitely they will learn. The main worry is that we are maybe too slow to change things on the line. I am not going down the road of the massively critisising the management as this year has been a real success so far, but I am worried that we are becoming very predictable and the geezer was in the stand sunday and has been handed a 'how to beat cavan' template by Mickey Harte and Tyrone. I actually thought we a bit more variety on Sunday, we may have nicked it. Ok the goal was a killer, but we put one into Givney and he nearly roofed the net. I know that they had sweepers but faster and diagonal ball is ideal to counteract that.

Anyway, that's my opinion. Time to put this one to bed and start thinking about Armagh. I hope that we stay injury free and that the boys go easy on the sangria over in portugal!

Reformation (Cavan) - Posts: 356 - 27/04/2016 08:07:03    1849932

Sean O Rinn - you are spending a lot of time correcting trivial things. Settle yourself!



Reformation (Cavan) - Posts:144 - 27/04/2016 08:07:03 1849932
I don't correct people often if ever Reformation.

Be honest as I am sure Mr Hyland and the management are, accept Cavan just were not good enough on the day it's that simple. They could have made all the changes they liked for they were not going to effect the result. That lad from Monaghan said 1-16 to 0-15 he had it almost right out from one point to little for Tyrone.
There are better day's ahead. Looking forward to the national league all ready for 2017 it's the only way Cavan will get better it's like our County champions once you keep playing against poor quality you will not be able to compete at the next level in Ulster.

The Quiet Man (Cavan) - Posts: 4565 - 27/04/2016 10:55:29    1850004

When you don't have a game plan to nullify the opposition most dangerous player ie Peter Harte then your always going to be not good enough. Gone are the days that concentrating on your own game was good enough. It's not anymore. Plans to nullify the oppositions dangermen must be put in place. That's a tactic that we rarely use as our management concentrate more on our own game than how the opposition set up. That's why we are so limited and predictable in what we do. And when the opposition target and snuff out our main threats we can't adjust. Its the reason why Armagh though not a better team than us will beat us in Ulster. McGeeney will like Harte have his homework done on certain players.

Awwwwnow (Cavan) - Posts: 1050 - 27/04/2016 14:04:29    1850109

I think it's fair to say we struggled in midfield . If you don't control that area of the field it's hard to win any game . Is there many other options there within the panel or others inthe county ? It's hard to think of any... This probably wasn't a bad result as it will keep the players grounded going into championship

Cavanbyrd (Cavan) - Posts: 61 - 27/04/2016 14:25:49    1850117

Tyrone haven't won Ulster since 2010 and they have Mickey Harte as manager. They have some hugely experienced and successful players like the Cavanaghs and McMahons so in terms of rebuilding and blending in Under 21's they were starting ahead of us by having this experience to call on (The Cavanaghs were instrumental in Tyrone winning on Sunday). They are better than they were last year and than they were even 4 years ago. So progress takes time even with the advantages that Tyrone have. Their progress over the last couple of years including the experience of playing a number of Championship games in Croke Park was a factor on Sunday. I am disappointed we did not win on Sunday but not surprised as Tyrone are just further down the road in terms of development. I saw enough to know that we have made a lot of progress from last year and are playing at a different level than before. This is not to say that there were a good many things wrong on Sunday but many are fixable and it is only after the experience of the likes of Sunday that we can learn and develop. I believe we will and more importantly I believe and management think that too.

breffni47 (Cavan) - Posts: 34 - 27/04/2016 14:49:53    1850128

There was one glaring trend visible during almost all out attacks on Sunday. . .

When we got the ball to within 50m of the Tyrone goal, they simple set up a line across the field on their own 45 - as expected and as Roscommon did to us in their last 2 championship victories over us.

At this point, the man in possession did 1 of 2 things - ran up a blind alley and lost the ball, or turned back and passed to a static team-mate.

On countless occasions, 3 or 4 players stood about 30m behind the play unmarked and watched what was happening.


Now, the above approach is low risk. Fair enough. But we were NEVER going to beat Tyrone without taking risks and attacking in a 2nd wave against their blanket defense. It could well have backfired and we could have been hit for 3 or 4 goals and been beaten out the gate. So maybe it was the right approach to take given that we were already promoted, playing for a less-important cup, etc. etc.

But if we are to challenge for Ulster this year (and it's time this team started to aim for this), we will need to take these risks. We don't have a McManus (not many counties do!) so we cannot afford to play as conservatively as Monaghan or, sometimes, Donegal do.

We have modeled a successful blue-print for making ourselves competitive against 90% of teams. It's time not to take the next step - completely remove the shackles and really go at teams. Dublin do it, although they currently have better players than we do. Roscommon do is and, ARGUABLY and IMO, they do not currently have better players than we do.

cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 4135 - 27/04/2016 15:10:20    1850142

I wasnt at the game sunday as i was in hospital so i cant comment at all . My commentary was northern sound and the boys sharing room thought it was hillarious , in the first two minutes it was all about our goalie been one of the best free takers in the country . My monaghan room mate said if thats what we call best in country we need help . I said very little then the next half hour was telling us tyrone old legs couldnt keep up with young cavan legs for full game . It was awful to listen to . I hope the lads can learn from sunday some good footballers but they need to use a footballing brain and adjust to situations

asitis (Cavan) - Posts: 233 - 27/04/2016 15:12:10    1850145

Yep the commentary on Northern Sound has been dodgy all year ... In one commentary earlier on this year (might have been against Derry) it was "ah that's a great score ... ah its just tailed wide at the last minute" its not a score unless it goes over the bar and the umpire raise the flag ..! Some of the commentary has been cringy and frankly embarrassing - bring back Micheal Tynan I say

Regarding the keeper, I think he scored 1 from 3 or 4 which is not a great return but he needs to be let take them. If its a 45 or around that general area, then give them to him regardless of what side its on as he scored a fantastic one against Galway from the wrong side. Id rather he takes them than M Reilly hitting across the ball all the time - we have no one else thats accurate enough from frees at that distance so let him take them all and i'm sure the stats will improve.

I have said it on here before that if we are to compete then we need to be scoring the majority of our frees - all the top teams have excellent free takers McManus, O'Sullivan, Murphy, O'Connor and Rock to name but a few ...

sidelineview (Cavan) - Posts: 106 - 27/04/2016 16:35:10    1850184